A great ride

One Saturday a few friends decided to ride to Lake Illawarra for lunch, great idea I'll go too. Regina on George the express pony, and myself on Nugget set out from Croom road and headed down Station road, crossing the Princes hwy at some lights. We had to ride across the trainline on the way to Macquarie Shores where we were to meet Christine V., Jan, Sonia and Kim. Once we were all together we rode towards Oak Flats along the road.



The first challenge was Slaters bridge, long, wooden and over wide water. Much to my surprise Nugget followed Jans' mare across without a care, I was impressed. Once clear of the bridge, we rode around thru the back streets of Oak Flats until we reached Lake Illawarra.

We followed the cycleway around the lake, a distance of about 8kms. It was a sunny day, the water was calm, and there were lots of lovely spots for a good trot or canter.

Upon reaching the end of the lake, we had to ride under Windang bridge so that we could get to our lunch spot further along the forshore. It's too dangerous to cross busy Shellharbour road, so we rode along the footpath.You can see the bridge in the background.

From the bridge, it is still a little ride before we arrived at the takeaway shop. Hot chips always smell yummy. We tied our horses up and got stuck into some food. In the photo below, at the top end is where we stopped for lunch, just as the road curves right.

After lunch we dicided to keep going and headed towards Warilla beach. You are able to ride behind the houses and I was wishing we could have a canter on the beach, but sadley horses are not allowed. Some more nice trotting and cantering soon saw us arrive at Little Lake.

The supposed 'bridge' across Little Lake has still not been built. No problem, as Regina was on the second smallest horse, sh went across first. The rest of us watched from the edge, if George started swimming, we were going the long way round!! The water was belly deep, so the rest of us rode our horses across. The photo below shows Little Lake at low tide.

Once clear of Little Lake, we rode up around the headland at Barrack Point. There are some beautiful views along here. Following the road around saw us ride onto the public reserve beside Junction road. We had a wonderful canter and trot until we reached Shellharbour surf club. Here we had to cross Shellharbour road and head towards the Shellharbour Workers Club, in order to ride thru suburbia on the home run.

Lots more cantering and trotting was the order as we made our way along the footpaths and roads to reach the top of the hills.

It was then down towards the Oak Flats Interchange and home. It was here that Regina and I said goodbye to everyone else, they had to return to Macquarie Shores. Regina wanted to ride down to the Oak Flats train station and go home that way. I thought a short cut would be good, how hard can a roundabout be???

So with Nugget and I leading, Regie and I rode along the bicycle lane, around the edge of the interchange. As the photo shows, this is a BIG roundabout, known as the UFO, for good reason (some inept drivers do drive the wrong way on this bugger!!). The only time Nugget got worried was when the northbound cars went under the interchange. Brave little begger.

We left the interchange and headed along the East West route, passing a police car running a speed trap (no galloping now). As home was getting closer we went into a couple of long canters along the grass verge.

We arrived back at the paddock 6 hours and 35kms later. Nugget was very good, especially as he had to lead thru some scary parts. Thanks to my friends for having me along, and a HUGE thankyou to Nugget, what a good boy.